Mr. Jindal has been touted as the new face of the Republican Party after 8 years of George Bush and some (painful) months of McCain/Palin. Jindal, the son of immigrants from India, gave the GOP response to President Obama's speech to Congress.
There is ample commentary about Jindal's performance throughout the media; reviews have been mixed at best.
What struck me was the focus of Jindal's speech was surprisingly similar to the message of the Republican Party here in California--control spending, lower taxes. I keep hearing sentiment that the Republican Party is in danger of becoming the party of old white people and Southerners. It appears the Republican Party (or a faction of it) throughout the nation is re-focusing on Lincoln and Regan... in political and policy terms on appealing to minorities and women (i.e. less old white people) as well as advocating smaller government and lower taxes (instead of divisive moral issues or illegal immigration which play well in the South). This is the message that the party has been pushing in Calfiornia since at least the 1970s and was at the heart of the recent budget "issues" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008-2009_California_budget_crisis).
Conspicuously absent were national security and moralist (read Christian) messages... also surprising was the admission of mistakes...
Do I buy it? Of course not.
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ReplyDeleteI've been trying to find current approval ratings for Governor Jindal - but so far I haven't been able to find anything from this year (much less for after his response). If anyone comes across these numbers, please share them.
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